Fear or Action – Response to Boston Marathon 2013

I woke up at 3:30 AM this morning with an irrational anxiety tied to the Boston Marathon bombings yesterday. I couldn’t fall back asleep thinking about why someone would take innocent lives and forever change the future of countless others (amputees, family members etc).

While I was struggling with how to understand what had occurred yesterday I came across across a blog post from Brad Feld in my Twitter feed. Brad an avid marathon runner who lived in Boston for a period of time and has strong connections there. Though overcome with emotion, he committed to running the Boston Marathon in 2014.

When I read that, my anxiety evaporated and a sense of duty and purpose took its place. This was the correct response to this terrible attack. I realized at that moment that my initial anxiety was the result desired by the cowards responsible for the horror yesterday. The cowards want to paralyze Americans with fear. I made the decision at that moment to get up and demonstrate my commitment to not live in fear. This is the one decision within my control that can undermine the terrorist motive.

Here is my commitment: I am running my first Marathon in 2014.

We as Americans and as human beings have a choice to direct our actions or allow fear to determine the course of our lives. I have never ran a marathon, or even a half marathon but I am making this public commitment to do so next year to symbolize my commitment to myself, my wife and our future family that I will never allow the course of our lives to be directed by fear.

We can’t predict when or where random acts of violence will occur (a movie theater in Aurora, a school in Littleton or a friendly race in Bean Town) but we can choose to frame the impact they have on us and fight to ensure we do not forfeit our freedom and our happiness to the perpetrators.

I ask you to choose action over fear, and let’s do this together. If you are interested in running a marathon in 2014 or even a 5k in the next year – let’s do it. Let’s get our calendars out and make it happen (we may even burn a few calories and make some new friends in the process). Comment, Email kristopher@kristopher.com or Tweet if you are interested.